


Outshine the Morning Sun

by gotatheory



Series: OQ Fix It Week [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Multi, dragon outlaw queen family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 16:03:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12485444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotatheory/pseuds/gotatheory
Summary: There is nothing like the birth of your child. Even when that birth is a little unusual, a little unexpected.





	Outshine the Morning Sun

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 2 (Fix the Zelena’s Baby Situation) of OQ Fix It Week. Technically, I fixed the entire situation in my Flicker Beat universe by simply making the pregnancy never happen. So have a different baby situation instead :D
> 
> Title is of course from "Dear Theodosia" from Hamilton.

There is nothing like the birth of your child, Robin’s decided. Even when that birth is a little unusual, a little unexpected.

Maleficent had told them all about dragon pregnancy, especially the part about how she would eventually lay an egg. She couldn’t say for sure when, because apparently it varies with all pregnancies — with Lily, it was nearly seven months. This time around, Mal was nearly thirty seven weeks before she felt compelled to take her dragon form and make a nest.

The day she went missing and no one could find her had made Robin’s blood run cold, even as he tried to stay calm for Regina. They found her, eventually, because she couldn’t cross the townline and there were only so many places she could go that she would deem suitable for a nest.

A cave that was, honestly, much too small for her comfort but it was the best she could find. Her dragon form practically dwarfed it, but there she was, curled at the mouth, blocking the view inside. She had raised her head at their approach, before lowering it when she saw it was them. And then they had been able to see the golden shell of their child, nestled next to her body.

Regina had teared up and so had he, overwhelmed at how real everything seemed now. Not that it hadn’t before, but something about it _now_ , with that egg right there, made it even more so.

It took another two months for the egg to hatch, and in the interim Robin and Regina managed to convince Mal to bring it home, instead of leaving it in the nest. It was safer that way, where Regina and Mal could put as many protection spells as possible on their home.

(And though she didn’t say it where the children could overhear, Robin heard more than one exchange of, “I don’t want Snow White in this house while the egg is here,” and Regina’s fervent promises that Snow wouldn’t set foot past the gate. A promise she kept the entire two months, with the help of subtle compulsion spells and the occasional warning to Snow.)

So no, the pregnancy wasn’t typical, wasn’t quite the same as what he experienced with Marian, but that held some positives. Maleficent wasn’t sick like Marian was, and Robin thanked all the gods he knew of for that small favor. He still worried over her health, over the baby’s, still had that fear in the back of his mind that they might lose them both. It never materialized, never even got close to the point where that could be a reality.

None of that matters now though, as the shell surrounding his child cracks apart, Maleficent excitedly calling them over to watch. She helps pull it apart, picking at bits of shell, revealing their baby to their eager gazes. Robin almost expects her to be a little dragon, but no, he sees the pink flesh of her arm as she flails about in her little protective prison.

Maleficent gets the honor of drawing her out, lifting her out of the ruined eggshell, and the sight takes his breath away, despite how surreal it is to have your baby born from an egg. Immediately, Robin wraps an arm around Mal’s shoulders, presses a kiss to her temple as he breathes out, “She’s beautiful.”

“She has your eyes, Robin,” Regina says, her own arm snaking around Mal’s waist, her chin resting on her shoulder as she peers over at their daughter.

“Her mother’s hair though,” he grins, finally bringing his hand up and brushing the blonde fuzz atop their little girl’s head.

Mal laughs, giddily and tearfully, turning her head to kiss Robin and then Regina. “She’s here,” she murmurs, and Robin thinks there is nothing more beautiful than his two ladies looking at their newest addition.

“She is,” Robin says, dropping another kiss to Mal’s hair. “She’s here, and happy, and healthy.”

“I thought,” Mal starts, but her voice catches, the blissful expression on her face fading into something pinched. “I was so worried that—” and yet again, she cuts herself off, shaking her head.

But they both know what she thought, what she worried, and it’s Regina who squeezes her, planting kisses and nuzzling into her. “It’s okay,” she tells her, and, “She’s okay, we’re all okay. We’re here.”

Mal nods, whispers, “I know, I know,” and Robin’s heart breaks for her, for what she suffered when Snow White and Prince Charming stole her child.

“We should get our other children,” he says finally, and that brings a grin to her lips. “I’m sure they’re eager to meet their little sister.”

Regina leans forward, giving their daughter a feathery kiss on her forehead before pressing her mouth to Mal’s and then Robin’s. “I’ll go get them,” she says, brown eyes dancing with excitement, her eyes lingering on their baby.

For a few minutes, it’s just him and Mal and their squirming bundle, wrapped now in a pale pink baby blanket. Gods, he didn’t think it was possible for him to love yet another person with every fiber of his being but here he is, with a heart growing impossibly fuller as he stares at her. She’s absolutely perfect, his baby girl, cuddled up in her mother’s arms and simply gazing around at the world.

The door to their bedroom opens, and the first thing Robin sees is his son’s mop of curly brown hair as he practically explodes through the doorway. “Papa! Mal!” he exclaims. “Regina said my spark is here!”

“She is.” Robin smiles at Roland, making space for him on the bed as he offers, “Would you like to come meet her?”

Henry and Lily are close behind, though Roland is the one that clambers onto the bed and goes straight for Mal, dark eyes wide as he takes in the baby in her arms.

“Where are her scales?” Roland asks with an innocent frown, and Mal laughs.

“They’re hiding, like mine and Lily’s are right now,” she tells him, her lips parted in such a wide grin that Robin almost fears her face might crack in two.

“I thought since she came from an egg, she’d be a dragon,” he pouts, staring down at the fleshy squirmy bundle that is his sister.

“It’ll be a while before she changes forms like Lily and me,” Mal says, her eyes flicking up to Regina as she chuckles _Thank God for that_.

Lily moves closer, reaches out a hand as if to touch the baby before letting it fall to rest on Roland’s shoulder. “She’s cute,” she remarks, meeting Maleficent’s eyes with a tentative smile.

“Would you like to hold her?” Robin asks, and his heart twinges at Lily’s widening eyes.

“Oh, I don’t — I’ve never held a baby before,” she says, taking a step back now, her arms crossing over her stomach.

Sometimes she’s so like Regina, he almost doesn’t believe Regina didn’t raise her. “Neither had Mal until this moment,” he points out, encouraging her to come back. Mal smoothly hands their daughter over to him, and he rises with her, moving toward Lily.

For a second, he thinks she might bolt, but she stands still, extending her arms to accept the baby even with a somewhat terrified expression lingering on her face. “Support her head and neck, like this,” Robin murmurs, adding, “That’s it,” when Lily has her situated.

“I wanna hold her too!” Roland chirps, and Mal tugs him to her, maneuvering him into her lap.

“Let your sister hold her for a minute, and then you and Henry can have a turn, hmm?” she stage whispers to him, and Roland sighs, but nods in agreement with a pouty _Okaaay_. Mal gets rid of that pout by tickling his side.

Henry peers at the baby in Lily’s arms, a wide smile on his face. “So did you guys settle on a name? Or do we get to call her Spark Plug for the rest of her life?” he teases, and Regina comes up behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle in a light hug.

“Such a smart mouth,” she chides, releasing her son. “But yes, we did decide on something. Thalia. Her name is Thalia.”


End file.
